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Calculate Fiscal Year Using Workflow

This one might be simple but is often requested for. Most organizations track their numbers in an operating or fiscal year which typically spans two calendar years. For example, if bookkeeping were to start every October, then Fiscal Year 2014 would mean an operating period of Oct 2013 to Sept 2014.

This post demonstrates how to auto calculate fiscal year based on month and year selection using SharePoint Designer workflow.

To better illustrate each step, here’s a screenshot of the completed workflow:

Click in between the 2 workflow actions then add an “If any value equals value” condition

Add all the months for the first Calendar Year as workflow conditions, e.g.: if fiscal year starts in July then create different conditions from July to December

Change the conditions from “and” to “or” operation

Add 1 to Calendar Year

Add “Do Calculation” action

For 1st value, select “Variable: Calculated Year”

For 2nd value, type “1”

Leave “Variable: calc” as is

Assign new value to variable

Add “Set workflow variable” action

Select “Variable: CalculatedYear” workflow variable

Click on “value” then click on

Select Data source of “Workflow Variables and Parameters”

Select “Variable: calc”

Create “End of Workflow” at the bottom of your workflow design. Optional step: Log workflow activitiesAs a general good practice, you should create log history along the way. In this example, I created a log to differentiate between first or second Calendar Year in any given Fiscal Year.

Start workflow automatically when item is created or changedSelect these settings in SPD so your users won’t have to manually kick off the workflow.